THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the graph of new Covid-19 cases moving up in the state, a Central team will visit here on Friday to assess the situation. According to the Union health ministry, the state is “reporting very high daily new Covid cases in the past many days” and the team will review the state’s Covid management programmes.
The team, led by Dr S K Singh, Director of the National Centre for Disease Control, will also support the health department in these measures. Other than new cases, the state is also dealing with the mutant strain which has been confirmed in six UK returnees.
A statement released by the Union health ministry says, “A total of 35,038 new cases were reported in the past seven days. Around 5,000 new cases are being added daily to the state Covid-19 tally.” Meanwhile, state health authorities said that there is nothing to be alarmed at, as the Central team’s visit is a routine affair.
“These teams interact with state authorities to understand the challenges and issues being faced to strengthen the ongoing activities,” said an official. An analysis done by the health department found that Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Wayanad, Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram districts witnessed more cases in December 28-January 3 week.
New cases reported per week
Nov 23-29: 36,905
Nov 30-Dec 6: 36,792
Dec 7-13: 32,938
Dec 14-20: 36,539
Dec 21-27: 34,647
Dec 28-Jan3: 35,048
Cases in last week
Dec 30: 6,268
Dec 31: 5,215
Jan 1: 4,991
Jan 2: 5,328
Jan 3: 4,600
Jan 4: 3,021
Jan 5: 5,615
Jan 6: 6,394
TPR touches 10% again
T’Puram: Two more UK returnees tested positive for Covid-19 in the state on Wednesday. The daily test positivity rate once again touched the 10 per cent mark (10.01) as 6,394 people tested positive when 63,891 samples were examined. The last time the TPR crossed the 10 per cent mark was on December 27 (10.64). The day also saw 5,110 recoveries. The deaths that were confirmed as due to the virus were 25. The number of UK returnees who have tested positive for Covid-19 from December till date is 43, including six who were confirmed to be infected with the mutant strain. Meanwhile, Law Minister A K Balan tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. He has been admitted to Palakkad District Hospital.